What are bats?

Many people believe that bats are mysterious mammals. They are the only mammals that are capable enough to fly rather than to glide.

In some places, people believe in superstitions that it is a bad sign if bats enter the house.How much ever brave a person might be, if a bat enters the house, there is no surprise if the person panics.

Actually, bats are helpful to humans in the way that they eat away the insects that are harmful to man. However, their existence is still a nuisance to many people as they make scratching and squeaking sounds from various places where they roost.

It is illegal and inhumane to kill bats. Therefore, follow methods to send them out without hurting them. Many people find it very difficult to get rid of these mammals as they might become aggressive in certain scenarios when they want to secure themselves. However, there is no need to worry if you know the way to manage without endangering yourself or bats,while getting them out.

How to free your home from bats?

A bat unintentionally enters a house, generally after the dark. It generally happens when a window or door is open or they may fall through an opening of a chimney or any outlet on the exterior of the house. They appear big while flying, but even an opening of ½ cm diameter is enough for them to enter.

Here is the discussion of the procedure to get them out of the house:

Close all the pets and kids in a room so that they do not wander and distract you while sending the bats out.

Choose a room of your house that has big sized window or door to send the bat out.

Guide all the bats to the chosen room so that you can send all of them at once.

Apart from the chosen room, shut down the doors of all the other rooms.

Now, turn of all the lights of the room in which the bats exist, except one light that is dim.

Turn off fans and air conditioners so that the bats experience silence. This is because, bats use echolocation instead of sight to navigate.

Block the entry to all parts of the house except the window or door through which you want to send the bats out. This can even be done by using any thin or flimsy sheet as the bat experiences the feel of a solid touch for even a flimsy sheet.

Do all these in extreme silence. If needed, even two persons can handle the issue while trying to block the entrance.

Now that the entry is blocked and there is no scope for the bat to fly much towards inward direction of the house, start narrowing its flight area and guide the way towards the opening that lets the bat out.

If you need to hold the bat, ensure that you wear thick leather gloves instead of touching it directly. This is because, direct touch might threat you with disease as they might have rabies.

If you enter up a scenario where you are holding the bat but have no chance to let it out, then cover it up with a container and insert a thin cardboard underneath the container while the bat is inside it.

Now that the bat is resting on the cardboard, while being covered with a container, take it out of the house till you reach far outdoors, and let it out.

Once the bat is out, close the window or door through which it went out. Turn on the lights and release all the pets and kids from the room.

Free your attic from bats?

Getting freed from bats that roost on attics is not an easy task. People follow numerous methods to clear them but, not all result in efficient solutions. You need to wait for right time and use right method that best matches the scenario. If you know the exact procedure then, you can save your effort, money and time.

Below is the discussion of step-by-step procedure of clearing bats from attic:

Inspect how and when bats are travelling in and out of the house, the place where they are actually residing, the type of damage they are causing, their behavior etc.

Find out all the outlets from which they are entering into the house. No matter how tiny the entries are, seal all of them excluding the primary entry and exit spot.

Now that all the entries are sealed except the primary entry and exit areas, install these key areas with one-way exclusion devices.

Check that the exclusion devices are perfectly installed such that the bats fly out naturally during the nights. Once they are out, they should be unable to fly back in through the primary entries.

Wait till all the bats are out and check if any of them are still present in the attic. Usually, they fly out during dusk and come back in during dawn.

Now that you are sure that all of them are out and are unable to come back in, seal off all the primary areas of entry and exit.

Now that your attic is free from bats, clean the complete area where they roosted. Ensure that the area is now free from all their left outs like urine, contamination, odor etc. to avoid health problems for the people who reside in the house.

Removing Bats From Your Chimney

Clearing the bats off the chimney is an easy task. If your attic and other parts of the house are free from bats except chimney, it means that the existence is confined to a single area. Therefore, a little hard work can show you best results.

Handling the method is quite difficult of there is a colony residing. It is suggested to hire a professional who is well trained to properly install the exclusion devices even in difficult areas.

Before you clear your chimney off bats, you need remember two main points:

Once you are successful with bat exclusion, ensure that you close the damper so that they won’t fly back in and wander around in your house.

Never start a fire while the bats are in the chimney. This is because, you need to open the damper if you want to start file. Once you open, they will enter inside the house. Moreover, if you start the fire, they might crawl inwards to fly towards the direction that leads into the house. Also, some bats might be killed. Bats that escape fire might enter into attic and other parts of the house, thus increasing your work.

Never install exclusion devices in the night, thinking that all the bats will fly out in the dusk. Some of them fly, while some of them still stay back. Therefore, install exclusion devices and wait till all of them fly out.

Steps to clear the bats from chimney:

Investigate the exit point of the bats.They can even exit through unexpected areas like gaps where the chimney meets the roof.

Install a one-way exclusion device so that the bats fly out naturally but will be unable to get back in.

Ensure that all the bats are out of the chimney. Now seal the gaps so that they will not re-enter.

How to clear the bats from you nearby outdoors?

Sometimes, your house might be free from bats, but the areas outside your house might be affected with bats, that harass you with squeaks all the time. If you do not take proper care to clear them, then your house might be a threat for bats.

Below is the discussion of taking important measurestoclear their existence from your outdoors:

1. Insects

Bats eat insects. Therefore, ensure that your nearby surroundings are free from insects so that they will not become the reason for the bats to wander.

2. Dry wood

Dead trees become the homes for bats. Therefore, cut all the dried up trees and the masses of wood and dump them into the garage. This way, you can destruct the potential residing areas and force the bats to go elsewhere.

3. Standing waters

If there is a long-term standing water or small ponds in your nearby residence or yard, where birds and animals bath, remove the water. If you do not want to remove the water but still want to get the bats out then, cover the water source completely with a net so that no creature can get the access. This turns out to be an unfriendly environment for the bats.

4. Seal the entries and exits

If you have recently excluded the bats from your nearby surroundings after the bats damaged your windows and walls, do not seal the holes immediately. Give at least one week of time for all the bats to leave out safely.Once all are out, seal the holes on windows, glass boards, mesh screens, etc. to get rid of them permanently.

5. Clear left outs

Inspect your house, yard, barn or elsewhere for the evidence of bats residing already. Bat droppings, urine marks, squeaks, rubmarks are some of the signs of the existence of bats. Clear all the signs and inspect the areas of their entries and exits.

Once you discover, cover the areas with mesh till the top of the opening and nail it tight, but leave it loose at the bottom. This way, you are creating a one-way path for the bats to go out but not letting them come back in.

How to free your walls from bats?

Removing the bats that reside inside the walls is not an easy task. Sometimes, it might be extremely difficult to send them out alive when the bats get trapped inside the cracks.

In such cases, it is suggest to approach a professional who is trained to handle such scenarios.

Below is the method to clear them off your walls:

Inspect your walls where you doubt the existence of bats.

Find for entry and exit points, where usually you can see oil and rub marks.

Learn the time when they are out of your wall. This is usually during nights.

Ensure that there is no bat existing or trapped inside the cracks.

Repair the cracks and other damages with wood, bricks or cement.

Spray bat repellents over the damages. Alternatively cat or dog repellants also will do the work.

Apply a layer of fiber glass insulation onto walls, attic corners, floors and under roofs. This irritates bats and thus force them to get away.

How to free your porch from bats?

Generally, the months of June, July and August are the maternity period for the bats. During this time, you can find colonies of bats. You must understand that most of them are too young to fly.

By the mid of November till the mid of March, you can follow methods to clear them off, as most of them will be hibernating elsewhere.

Follow the below mentioned procedure to clear your porch off the bats:

Inspect the entry and exit areas on the porch. Also note the primary areas of entry and exit.

Seal all the entries except the primary ones.

Ensure that all the bats are out.

Install square shaped screen mesh above the porch. Ensure that the sides and the top of the mesh are fixed tightly and the bottom side is left free, so that the bats can go out but cannot fly back in.

Wait for a week or two so that all the bats are out.

Seal the primary areas of entry and exit with a caulk or wood.

How to Remove Bats From Your shutters ?

When bats roost in shutters, it is a great nuisance because of the scratching and squeaking sounds they make. The only method you can follow to clear their existence behind the shutters is to block their access to the area. This method involves sending them off from the place and then, discouraging them from returning back.

Some of the effective methods that discourage them from turning back are the following:

1. Light

One of the best methods is to expose bright lights over the shutters. This makes the climate to be unfavorable for the bats to settle there.

2. Timing

You should know when the right time to send the bats off their roosting areas is. Usually, the months of June and July are their maternity period, during which you will find most of them to be too young to fly.

If you try to evacuate them during this period, they may die. Therefore, the right time to send them off is during the mid of August to mid of May. Since all the young ones will be big enough to fly during this period, it will be easy to send them off during this period.

3. Bird Repellants

Some of the bird repellants are sticky. Apply such repellents over the slats in the shutters. Bats that enter into the shutters will feel the stickiness and get discouraged to settle there.

4. Mothballs

Naphthalene is one of the chemicals that is legally permitted to use on bats. This chemical is present in mothballs, which can be placed in, around and between the shutters. This way, you can make the environment to be unfavorable for the bats.

How to keep bats away before they start roosting?

Some areas might turn to be favorable for bats. Such bat prone areas should be identified at the earliest before the bats start to roost. We can take measures to discourage them by working on such areas.

Take following measures on the areas that are prone for bats:

Clear off dry wood in your yard.

Seal off all the tiny holes or cracks on your walls, floor, roof fence etc.

Apply repellants that are legally permitted to use, over the areas that are favorable for bats.

Place mothballs so that they do not like the smell and turn back.

Clear off standing water in your yard, if possible.

Work to repair all the loose tiles over your roof.

Close all the vents that are favorable for bats to enter into your home.

How do you repel bats?

Staying in a place where bats roost is really a hassle. Though they do well to us by eating insects, their existence is still annoying.

Let it be that they roost in shutters, doors, walls, chimneys, porch, and attic or anywhere, we just feel like sending them off. But, we can take some measures to send the existing ones and discourage them forever to turn back.

Always follow methods that are not only safe for you, but also for the bats. If you unfortunately end up in killing them, then you cannot bear the rotten smell and always remember that they carry disease.

Effective methods that discourage bats are:

Use ammonia as a repellant for keeping the bats away. However, this is a temporary solution, as the bats stick to other corners of the house to keep themselves away from the ammonia vapors.

Markets offer machines that make noises at high frequencies to scare the bats. Before they enter your house, use these machines to send them off from the roosting areas.

Once the bats leave the roosting areas, seal all the entries and exits with wood or caulk.

You can use fiberglass insulation over the ceiling of your attic. This irritates the skin of bats, and they feel it very unfriendly to settle there.

Perform bat exclusion with the help of a professional so that the bats stay in their new home which is at quite a distance away from your residing area.

Conclusion

Bats are mammals that are not liked by many humans. They eat insects but, they carry diseases. Therefore, it is not safe to let them roost in the areas where we reside. Follow the methods discussed in this article to keep the bats away and discourage them to renter your place again. If you feel that it is far beyond your capability to send them away, then try to hire a professional who can not only help you to free from bats, but also guide you with methods to get rid of bats.